OT goal lifts Severna Park to second straight title 4A field hockey

With her team trailing Richard Montgomery 1-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining in yesterday's Class 4A state championship game at Goucher College, Severna Park coach Lil Shelton called a timeout to try to alleviate some of the pressure on her team.

"I told them that they were playing frantic," said Shelton. "I told them not to panic."

Shelton's words seemed to have a soothing effect as the Falcons calmly knotted the game at 1-1 before defeating the Rockets of Montgomery County, 2-1, in overtime. The victory gave the top-seeded and top-ranked Falcons (16-0) their second straight state title and seventh state crown since 1978.

"Everyone was getting really nervous in the second half because we thought that there was only like three minutes left, but when Coach Shelton called a timeout she told us that we were playing really frantic and that we didn't have to be because we still had close to 10 minutes left," said Severna Park senior Colleen Gately, who scored the unassisted game-winner with 3:40 left.

"I think everyone was really relieved after that and we saw we still actually had an opportunity to get back in it."

That opportunity came with 6:35 remaining when Richard Montgomery goalkeeper Anice Schervish was penalized for stepping on the ball directly in front of the cage. The Falcons were awarded a penalty stroke and senior Amy Senger made the most of it as she fired a shot into the upper-left hand corner of the net to tie the score at 1.

Severna Park, which defeated Richard Montgomery 3-0 in last year's state semifinals, found itself trailing for only the second time this season when Rockets senior forward Elisa Norris scored 10:51 into the game.

Once the game reached overtime, Shelton said she was confident that it would have a happy ending.

"I was less nervous in the overtime period than I was the rest of the game because I know my first seven is better than any first seven in the state," said Shelton. "They're so strong and so determined and they wanted this so bad, they weren't to be denied."